Telluride, CO: Day off!

July 13, 2013

I was very disappointed to find myself wide awake at 6:30 AM. Must have something to do with going to sleep at 9 PM. I tried to be quiet, I think the scraping of my spoon in the bottom of the yougart container is what woke Jacinto up. We were both sad to be awake so early. Sleeping in is high on the list of day off pleasures.

I checked in with Ken and Spoon. Ken was also sad to have gotten up early. He had laundry on his list of things to do. The hotel says the only coin op laundry in town is in an apartment complex, but they could send our laundry out. Yep, I think Telluride is on the high end of the scale. Guess we'll be washing clothes tomorrow in Dolores.

Ken has already taken care of laundry, a frequently touring cyclist day off chore.

After lounging around all morning, I finally got in the shower. After the shower I cleaned my bike. Obviously, I could have thought that one through a bit better. I was happy with the discovery that the make up wipes provided in the hotel worked very well to clean the bike.

It was a bit disgusting to see the grass (? Where did that come from?) and crumbs that had collected at the bottom of my seat bag. Now the bike is back together and ready for the last half of the trip.

Jacinto had called a friend to deliver his LHT. Jacinto's knee had started bugging him.It was lucky for him that we are close enough to home to make bicycle delivery service possible. We tried to convince Rick to stay for lunch, but he said all of the people with dreadlocks creeped him out, he wanted to get out of town ASAP.

Good friend, Rick, brought Jacinto the LHT to ride as his knee was starting to bother him on the Single Speed. Jacinto had been 'fitted' to the SS and the shop had lowered his seat way down. He was pretty sure the seat height was the problem, not the fact it was a single speed, since he's done many Colorado tours on the same bike. Just to be safe, Rick brought the bike with gears.

Oren and Bill happened by. They had just eaten the best sandwiches ever. Bill was off to ride the gondola and Oren was ready for a nap. Ken was taking a nap also so we went to lunch alone. We ended up at a Mexican restaurant. Now we're supposed to be visiting the gondola, but seem low on motivation. We should go before the afternoon rains hit. Yes, we should.

We ran into Ken, who agreed to ride the gondola again if we would go for a beer after. He is a tough bargainer!

I was very surprised that the gondola immediately made me seasick. My stomach was flip flopping and I got a headache. This was no fun! We rode to the center of the mountain transfer, where mountain bikers and hikers got off, and on up to the top. Since I wasn't liking the experience, we did not ride on down to the parking garage. Spoon and Cal checked out the gondola in detail. Each gondola is equipped to carry two bicycles. By riding the gondola to the parking garage tomorrow morning the guys can cut out 3 miles of riding, but also a honking climb up Lawson hill.

Flowers and mountain towns seem to go together. So, so pretty. The purple and white flowers in the back are Columbines, the state flower.

We went to the brewery the guys had gone to yesterday, only to discover everyone was already there. Somehow I think the young girls dressed as referees in short shorts had something to do with the choice. Jacinto and I shared a growler of beer and a giant super nacho. That turned out to be dinner, it was so large.

We stopped by our hotel for the map, then walked over to the guy's lodging for a map meeting. Jacinto and I discussed taking the river path out of town, as we would not be taking the gondola in the morning. The river path was crushed limestone, a fine surface for fatter tires. Not so good for my skinny tires.

After the map meeting, it was back to the hotel to organize and pack up for the morning. It's back to the riding routine now!

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0